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I just finished Chamber of Secrets again. Harry and Ron overhear this conversation between the staff, and McGonagall says:

"Right," said Professor McGonagall, whose nostrils were flared, "that's got him out from under our feet.

Do all the staff dislike Lockhart?

2
  • Filch disliked everyone; except for maybe Prof. Umbridge
    – Möoz
    Dec 16, 2015 at 2:28
  • @Mooz i agree, if you can find a quote toss it in as an answer !
    – Himarm
    Dec 16, 2015 at 2:28

3 Answers 3

53

Some of the people who disliked or distrusted Lockhart:

  • Dumbledore
  • McGonagall
  • Snape
  • Hagrid (admittedly not a teacher in book 2)
  • and probably most of the other staff

From Pottermore (emphasis mine):

Many staff were baffled as to the reason that Albus Dumbledore chose to invite Gilderoy Lockhart back to Hogwarts as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. While it was true that it had become almost impossible to persuade anybody else to take the job (the rumour that it was cursed was gathering strength both inside and outside Hogwarts), many teachers remembered Lockhart as thoroughly obnoxious, whatever his later achievements.

Albus Dumbledore’s plans, however, ran deep. He happened to have known two of the wizards for whose life’s work Gilderoy Lockhart had taken credit, and was one of the only people in the world who thought he knew what Lockhart was up to. Dumbledore was convinced that Lockhart needed only to be put back into an ordinary school setting to be revealed as a charlatan and a fraud. Professor McGonagall, who had never liked Lockhart, asked Dumbledore what he thought students would learn from such a vain, celebrity-hungry man. Dumbledore replied that ‘there is plenty to be learned even from a bad teacher: what not to do, how not to be’.

That quote gives us "many staff", Dumbledore (dislike not specifically mentioned, but at least distrust and suspicion of what Lockhart truly was), and McGonagall. It's also likely that several of the teachers had also been teachers back in Lockhart's day, and would remember his schoolboy exploits, which included (again from Pottermore):

Lockhart told anyone who would listen that he would succeed in making a Philosopher’s Stone before leaving school and that he intended to captain England’s Quidditch team to World Cup glory, before knuckling down to becoming Britain’s youngest Minister for Magic.

If he was not first and best, he would rather not participate at all. Increasingly, he directed his talents towards short cuts and dodges. He valued learning not for its own sake, but for the attention it brought him. He craved prizes and awards. He lobbied the Headmaster to start a school newsletter, because he liked nothing better than to see his name and photograph in print.

Never very popular, he nevertheless achieved his primary goal of school-wide recognition through repeated, attention-getting exploits. He received a week’s worth of detentions for magically carving his signature in twenty-foot-long letters into the Quidditch pitch. He managed to create a massive, illuminated projection of his own face, which he would send skywards in imitation of the Dark Mark. He sent himself eight hundred Valentine’s cards one year, which caused such a pile-up of owls in the Great Hall that breakfast had to be abandoned (far too many feathers and droppings in the porridge).

When Lockhart finally left Hogwarts, it was to a faint sigh of relief from the staff.

From HP and the Chamber of Secrets (book, emphasis mine):

"Like I don' know. An' bangin' on about some Banshee he banished. If one word of it was true, I'll eat my kettle. [...] I told Lockhart yeh didn' need teh. Yer more famous than him without tryin'."

"Bet he didn't like that," said Harry, sitting up and rubbing his chin.

"Don' think he did," said Hagrid, his eyes twinkling. "An' then I told him I'd never read one o' his books an' he decided ter go."

So Hagrid was willing to go as far as to criticise him to his face.

And from the film adaptation of HP and the Chamber of Secrets:

Severus Snape: "A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Your moment has come at last."
Lockhart: "My moment?"
Severus Snape [sneeringly]: "Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?"

So we can add Snape to the list of those who were openly critical of Lockhart to his face.

3
  • and you were talking about madom pomfrey not being a teacher! neither is Hagrid in year 2.
    – Himarm
    Dec 16, 2015 at 14:51
  • 7
    Owls crap into breakfast? Dec 16, 2015 at 15:04
  • @Himarm reminder now that those 22 hours are up :-)
    – Rand al'Thor
    Dec 17, 2015 at 0:04
13

In addition to the above individuals, although not exactly a teacher...

Madam Pomfrey probably didn't

Judging by this line from the film:

Poppy: "You should have come straight to me!... I can mend bones in a second — but growing them back —"

it would seem that Madam Pomfrey didn't particularly like Lockart, definitely following the incident with Harry where he removed the bones in Harry's arm!

5
  • @randal'thor I concur it's stretching it, but we'll let Himarm make the final decision Dec 16, 2015 at 2:10
  • @Himarm see above ^ Dec 16, 2015 at 2:10
  • @randal'thor its an answer, its just a partial answer that you and jason baker left out. I did intend for the question to be staff, this was my fault that i forgot madom pomfrey was not a teacher
    – Himarm
    Dec 16, 2015 at 2:11
  • As well as PP not being a teacher, it's also not really evidence that she doesn't like him. She recognises he mucked up the healing, but you'd have to be an idiot not to recognise that. The quote you give doesn't even mention him explicitly! Plus it's from secondary canon (film), although there probably is a similar quote in the book.
    – Rand al'Thor
    Dec 16, 2015 at 2:12
  • 2
    How about, from a few lines later, "Still tutting about dangerous sports and inept teachers, Madam Pomfrey retreated, leaving Ron and Hermione to help Harry gulp down some water." to strengthen this answer?
    – Au101
    Dec 16, 2015 at 4:23
5

Per his Pottermore biography, they were definitely not fans of his; McGonagall in particular:

Many staff were baffled as to the reason that Albus Dumbledore chose to invite Gilderoy Lockhart back to Hogwarts as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. While it was true that it had become almost impossible to persuade anybody else to take the job (the rumour that it was cursed was gathering strength both inside and outside Hogwarts), many teachers remembered Lockhart as thoroughly obnoxious, whatever his later achievements.

[...]

Professor McGonagall, who had never liked Lockhart, asked Dumbledore what he thought students would learn from such a vain, celebrity-hungry man. Dumbledore replied that 'there is plenty to be learned even from a bad teacher: what not to do, how not to be'.

It's not entirely clear how many of them disliked him personally; although given the attitude he displays over the course of the book, it's hard to imagine him winning anyone over to his side.

6
  • Surprised I managed to beat you on any question, especially when you had a slight head start ... +1 anyway.
    – Rand al'Thor
    Dec 17, 2015 at 0:05
  • @randal'thor It has been known; I'm not Richard, after all Dec 17, 2015 at 1:36
  • Hem, hem. Even Richard is defeatable ;-)
    – Rand al'Thor
    Dec 17, 2015 at 1:38
  • And this was a nice double compliment!
    – Rand al'Thor
    Dec 17, 2015 at 1:39
  • @randal'thor Isn't that the chap who put me in a dungeon for a PSE question? Getting kind of mixed signals there Dec 17, 2015 at 1:40

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